Fotocatalisi indotta dall'aggregazione di cromofori organici

Using dyes in photocatalysis is important because it allows us to convert visible light into chemical energy. In fact, when a chromophore absorbs light, an electron gets excited from the ground state into the photoexcited state that possesses higher reactivity, which can then be used to drive chemical reactions. However, several classes of organic chromophores exhibit behaviour where the energy of the excited state is dissipated through internal rotations, indicating the significant role of molecular motion in emission quenching. In these types of molecules, intramolecular motions can be restricted by molecular stacking or strong intermolecular interactions in aggregates, which block the non-radiative decay channel. This phenomenon, called aggregation induced emission (AIE), has generated scientific interest because it can be applied to many fields including electronic devices, materials design and biological sensing and imaging. This effect has been poorly explored in photocatalysis and therefore the aim of this thesis work is to investigate the correlation between AIE and photocatalytic activity. For this purpose, an anthracene-based organic chromophore was synthesized and characterized using various analytical techniques. Afterwards, the photocatalytic properties of the molecule were investigated comparing between solution and aggregation state.